Veteran guard fans Flames’ finals hopes
TOWNSVILLE Flames veteran Rachael Mccully believes they have the talent to end their 11-year QBL title drought with their WNBL stars back on court for tomorrow’s quarter-final clash with Mackay.
The Flames will have a formidable starting five against the Meteorettes with Mccully, Abby Bishop, Micaela Cocks, Alicia Froling, and Lisa Brennan who all have WNBL experience.
Townsville were minor premiers last season, but fell at the final hurdle with a 2-0 loss to Southern Districts in the grand final series and they haven’t lifted the QBL trophy since 2008.
Mccully played in that last championship and the evergreen point guard was confident the Flames had the depth and balance to their squad this season to make a big splash in the playoffs.
“I think if we play to our ability and what Luke (Brennan, head coach) and the coaching staff has put in place we can beat anyone on the day. That’s not being cocky, that’s just a fact,” Mccully said.
“We have WNBL calibre people throughout our team and I think it’s a huge strength of ours.
“The girls made the grand final last year and this is a completely different team, so to be back in finals is really hard to do.
“We have to just make sure that we get it done and play the way that Luke’s trained us and we’ve been building over the season.”
Mccully is averaging 9.78 points and 5.56 assists this season, but she has missed the past two games and Brennan said it was exciting to have her back leading their offence in the playoffs.
“It means a lot on and off the court. She leads us, gets us into all our sets, and she’s shooting the ball really well, which is a big plus,” he said.
“We get to free up Micaela Cocks off the ball a little bit because Micaela usually defends the stronger wing players so she can spend a bit more energy there.
“We’re a deep team as well. We’ve got great role players off the bench that come in and contribute and a good balance of youth with experience.”